Chapter 97: Chapter 87 – Hunt for the Tyrant

"How tribes of goblins not only survived, but downright thrived in an area where many large predators roamed, was not only due to their rapid reproductive cycle, but also the niche they carved out for themselves. For large predators, to prey on goblins often proved to be more trouble than it was worth, while smaller predators often found themselves the prey when they ran onto some goblins." - Garth Wainwrought, professor of socioeconomics at the Levain Institute of Higher Learning.

 

Cal spent the night in her own tent, set up beside those of the mercenaries in what passed for the settlement's city square. The goblins were keen enough to offer hospitality, but their mud or wooden huts are typically built according to their size,and would have been an uncomfortable place for most other races.

 

She was at least glad that she bought a tent with soundproofing enchantments included, as the goblin's reputation for promiscuity and williness to fuck most anything seemed to be pretty close to the mark considering the noises that permeated the night air when she went out during the night to relieve herself.

 

The mercenaries clearly had worse tents, as she saw the four elves look like they had little sleep the next morning. The dwarves clearly came more prepared, as she saw one pluck out earplugs from his hairy ears while he prepared breakfast.

 

Breakfast was simple fare, cooked vegetables and meats were served on a spongy flatbread, with wide leaves as the "plate". The flatbread had a somewhat sour flavor that was unusual, but the food was cooked to complement that sourness and it all meshed together well. Small cups of a strong, bitter coffee was served as well, a local brew heavy on the aromas, and one that would make one wide awake when ingested.

 

Cal especially liked the heavily spiced, minced raw meat served with the spongy flatbread.

 

When the hunting party departed shortly after breakfast, Cal walked along with them. The goblins had not refused an extra hand, though they also made clear that they would not be responsible for her safety either. The party consisted of twenty one mercenaries, around twenty five therians from the settlement, and a good hundred or so goblins.

 

During the trek towards where the rampaging tyrant lizard was last spotted, Cal chatted with an older goblin couple who were amongst the elders of the village. The couple were followed by two of their ten children - the ones who chose to be hunters - and a young Hyena-Therian girl.

 

Hyena-therians were rather a rarity in Alcidea, as their kind were more commonly found in Ur-Teros. Apparently the young therian had lost her parents - travelling merchants who lost their lives to bandits - when she was very young, barely a toddler. The old goblin couple had adopted the girl along with the other two surviving siblings from her litter and raised them as their own since.

 

Fheeri, as the young girl was named, had followed her adoptive parents' footsteps and ranked amongst the best of the young hunters of the village, hence her participation in today's hunt. The young girl was also very curious about the outside world, as Cal saw her yesterday when she chatted up one of the elephant-therian mercenaries and bombarded him with questions.

 

Cal was also bombarded with questions by the eager girl, to which she answered as best she could. The girl looked positively enamored with tales from the world outside the goblin lands, and said she too wished to head out to the world someday.

 

Conversations were cut short when they felt the ground slightly tremble, the sign that a particularly large creature was not too far away. Everyone in the hunting party grew serious, and some of the goblins split from the party in groups of ten as they scouted out the surroundings.

 

Around fifteen minutes later the scouts returned, and led the party as a whole to a particular direction. As they got closer the, the party split into three equal, one of the mercenary teams on each group, and triangulated the area where their target roamed.

 

As they approached the edge of the forest, Cal saw their target, the tyrant lizard for the first time. The beast was quite massive, around fifteen meters from head to tail, and nearly half that in height. Its massive, strong hind legs had three joints, the legs looked not unlike a bird's, except these ended in three toes tipped with wicked, curved claws.

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Its bulky arms reminded Cal of those that belonged to monkeys, as they were as long as its legs, with three thick clawed fingers, and a bony spike of a "thumb". The lizard's back was covered by thick bony plates that started from just behind its nostrils to the tip of its tail. The tail itself had six curved bone spikes, three on each side, that jutted out near its tip.

 

A single horn grew from the creature's snout, and its large maw full of dagger-sized fangs were in plain sight as it feasted on an adult thunder lizard it had killed - a specimen as large as the one Cal hunted with Bogdan back at Xewaur Plains. The massive creature before her was clearly an apex predator, a very deadly one, and yet Cal found it hard to take seriously.

 

Because the downy, pink, fluffy feathers that covered the rest of its body lent the intimidating creature a somewhat comical look.

 

The hunt seemed simple enough. One group lined themselves up on trees and by the edge of the forest while the creature was busy with its meal, while the other two crawled low in the grass and positioned themselves so they formed a triangle with the creature in the middle.

 

On a sign from the old goblin, all the hunters from the village unpacked a sling and placed a round lead projectile in its pouch. The mercenaries - the group that was with Cal at the forest's edge were the mixed one, armed with greatbows and longbows - were instructed to shoot after the goblins so they didn't accidentally hit each other's shots in midair.

 

Almost as one, the goblin and therians spun their slings around and loosed simultaneously a short moment later, as lead balls were flung through the air with great force. The mercenaries followed a heartbeat later, their arrows joined by a crossbow bolt as Cal added hers to the mix.

 

A hailstorm of lead projectiles struck the beast. Most of them bounced ineffectively against its bony plates and thick skin, but at least a few hit more sensitive parts, as the beast stopped its feast and raised its head towards the forest. At about the same time, eight arrows and a bolt struck and embedded themselves into its flesh. The injury was far too small to have incapacitated the beast in any way, but it succeeded in garnering its attention.

 

When the creature turned towards the forest and had just taken a step forward, the second group of hunters to its back and left rose from the tall grass, and within moments another rain of lead projectiles pelted the beast, while the dwarf mercenaries added a septet of heavy crossbow bolts to the mix.

 

The creature roared in anger at the new attack, though its roar was closer to a loud, high pitched screech not unlike those uttered by birds of prey. It turned towards the second group, but they already hid themselves in the tall grass once again when it turned to face them.

 

At this timing, the third hunting group struck from yet another direction, the elven mercenaries and their elephant-therian partners had particularly large atlatls in their hands, loaded with full-sized spears. They took a short run before they hurled their spears with all their strength at the beast.

 

The beast screeched loudly as the six spears stabbed deeper than the previous projectiles, yet when it turned another hail of lead and arrows came from the forest as the process repeated itself.

 

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